Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I have three movie files in my Windows Media Player library. All three of them play fine on the computer. If I choose "Play To" and select my Sony Bravia TV, one of them works fine, but the other two always give the same error: "failed to retrieve media information from media server".

What's the problem here? How do I fix it?

share|improve this question
First point of failure would be the container format. What's the extensions of the files that won't play? – MBraedley Jan 4 '12 at 15:59
One's AVI, the other is MKV. I haven't checked which codecs are used inside because I assumed it gets decoded on the PC anyway. – romkyns Jan 4 '12 at 16:06

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Most of the time when I run into that... it's because the codec used to encode the video isn't compatible with the player. Just because the computer can play it... doesn't mean the TV knows how to decode it.

share|improve this answer
So DLNA sends the raw file then? I kind of thought it gets decoded on the computer. – romkyns Jan 4 '12 at 16:04
1  
Nope... the "Renderer" is the device responsible for both displaying the video and decoding the stream. – TheCompWiz Jan 4 '12 at 16:06
Presumably there are DLNA servers that transcode on the fly then? I'll search around. Thanks! – romkyns Jan 4 '12 at 16:08
1  
Actually... most players won't fully transcode on the fly if the device says it supports one of the many "wrapper" formats like "AVI". (kinda dumb... as AVI can be just about anything) – TheCompWiz Jan 4 '12 at 16:11
Gah, that's pretty fricken dumb if you ask me... – romkyns Jan 4 '12 at 16:14
show 1 more comment

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.